Guild Wars 2

Every time I see a ranger using brown bear I cry. The brown bear is useless. Shake it off is so weak compared to the potential of the other pets. Lets not forget that the brown bear doesn’t do much of any damage at all nor has any finishers.

If you chose bear because it doesn’t get killed as easily you are playing the ranger wrong. The key to playing ranger efficiently is to swap pets during combat and use their F2 abilities.

What I do for dungeon running:

Pets: Jungle Stalker = mighty roar / 5 stacks of might
Red Moa = furious screech / fury

The jungle stalker may be bugged ( f2 doesn’t always work %100 of the time) but those 5 stacks of might come in handy. It also does decent damage and causes vulnerability with every strike. The red moa can heal! THIS IS ALL PARTY WIDE!

TLDR: If you are using perma bear, you are playing the ranger wrong.

you did know that the bear take 2 conditions off 5 allies, and that the activation time (0.5 seconds) is almost instant, making it a VERY reliable skill. Not to mention low CD.

Mighty Roar takes 3 seconds to activate. THREE SECONDS of the pet being rooted. If it is damaged or you move out of its tiny tiny range within those 3 seconds, you loose the might.

Red moa has next to NO dps. Last night, i tested if it would use its healing cry similar to how drakes using their blast finisher (set pet to avoid combat, then tell them to attack manually). It does not, instead it waits and astonashing 50 seconds after initiating combat, to use the heal. Resulting in a few coyotes almost killing my poor ranger (i ran zerker).
Red moa fury does NOT work with compassion training (tested and reported it in the bugfix section many times over, nothing happens). Thus it will NEVER grant more then 14 seconds.

Pet boon duration does NOT scale with player boon duration. So while the tooltip reads “Fury 19.5 seconds”, you will still only get 14 seconds.
Moa DPS is laughable

Brown Bear, in WvW and PvP is a very good companion, but only as a supportive companion, you should be using it to cleanse conditions and tank damage (protect me), and leave the DPS to a cat or bird.

My preferred combination is Brown Bear + Krytan Drakehound for CC and Condi cleanse. The condi cleanse (well, really, it is a transfer, just like empathic bond).

Another EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THING TO MENTION is that while the bear offers lower DPS compared to other pets, it is pretty much the only pet type, able to tank mass condi spam.
If you use empathic bond, your pet will take 3 conditions off you. Player get 3 conditions less, pet have to take the damage from those instead. If you, like to use dogs, drakes and cats, like myself, you will find empathic bond very destructive. As it will simply melt your DPS pets.
Try fight a necro and watch what 25 stacks of bleeding, poison and chill does to your jaguar or jungle stalker. You would be lucky to even see the healthbar before the pet dies.

However, you are free to use whatever pet you want, but don’t come crying when Empathic Bond kills your moa, stalker, wolf, hyena or river drake. Because i warned you it would.

Note: I said stalker and moa for dungeon running…..

emphatic bond? who uses that? 25 stacks of bleeding? I have not come acrokittenanger who uses bear in Spvp……… The rangers in spvp actually know not to get hit by such things and even get conditioned.

Emphatic bond is for players who don’t move when they fight. In WvW or Spvp the ranger shouldn’t be getting focused IMO. About the moa: that’s a bug(not attacking unless you tell it to). I use it as an opener for buff, not for combat.

No I don’t use emphatic bond in pvp or WvW(pet dies instantly in a zerg anyway, and I don’t roam). Why? because teamwork tells me that other players are helping and cleansing with better skills(healing spring?). Wasting a trait or points in a trait line just for emphatic bond is silly.

If necro is the only hard counter I have to worry about then so be it…

What I am really trying to say is that players shouldn’t be using bear for “everything”, but they are and it just hurts to see that they aren’t using the ranger to its full potential in certain situations.

If I can be bothered I switch to a brown bear during the gather bombs phase of CoF 2. For many champs or bosses like the volcano fractal or Old Tom I’ll use a brown bear. It is also strong for “Protect Me!” I prefer dogs for PvP and WvW, but I would understand if someone wanted a bear, especially considering all the condition spam. (And on that note, emphatic bond is the current meta run by the top of the team arena leaderboard rangers. http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-FF3V;1wEkv-l2BEk-0;9-8E;19-TT-2;323A36A;1VN17;2Rk06Rk061FY)

There are situations where bears are appropriate.

Cof 2 bomb run is too easy to bother with condi cleanse. you run in , maybe get burned for tiny damage , get bomb, run to magg, then heal spring. the heal spring will cleanse anyone else running in to turn in. if you are dying from the burning you aren’t dodging, and mitigating.

I dont doubt that bears are situational. Everything is situational. I am just saying that there are rangers out there that can’t be bothered to change out from bear for certain types of content and it actually slows/hinders the team. They aren’t even needed for Solo pve content and a bird can 1v1 any mob in open world and kill faster.

There are better choices out there and it is a noticeable difference in efficiency.

I mentioned the bomb run just because your pets are mostly useless there. The brownbear can distract the flamethrower guy as well as the condi removal. It’s along the lines of “why not?” You likely have RaO up the whole time, so birds are maybe not useful.

Also, I almost never use bear and agree that people should think more carefully about their pet choices. But there is so much bear hate some people don’t realize they are actually useful. It would be a shame for a ranger to be embarrassed to use a brown bear for the Old Tom fight.

I’ve been seeing some polar bears for the marionette fight. I prefer a snow leopard, but I definitely understand the choice of a polar bear. Especially if they’re running protect me during the warden fight, or just want to keep it alive for S&R.

I use the bear for condi cleanse and tanking – not because I can’t survive without a tank, but because condi bleed rangers need to shoot enemies in the back nonstop to achieve maximum dps. In party contexts this is no longer relevant, so the lashtail devourer gets called up instead for its poison and bleed potential. The bear makes an occasional cameo for condicleanse before hibernating some more, unless the party is so fail that it’s needed to keep everyone alive.

Rangers not using back shots on shortbows should generally not use bears. The cat-type pets are among the better choices out there.

Prysin.8542:

you did know that the bear take 2 conditions off 5 allies, and that the activation time (0.5 seconds) is almost instant, making it a VERY reliable skill. Not to mention low CD.

Mighty Roar takes 3 seconds to activate. THREE SECONDS of the pet being rooted. If it is damaged or you move out of its tiny tiny range within those 3 seconds, you loose the might.

Red moa has next to NO dps. Last night, i tested if it would use its healing cry similar to how drakes using their blast finisher (set pet to avoid combat, then tell them to attack manually). It does not, instead it waits and astonashing 50 seconds after initiating combat, to use the heal. Resulting in a few coyotes almost killing my poor ranger (i ran zerker).
Red moa fury does NOT work with compassion training (tested and reported it in the bugfix section many times over, nothing happens). Thus it will NEVER grant more then 14 seconds.

Pet boon duration does NOT scale with player boon duration. So while the tooltip reads “Fury 19.5 seconds”, you will still only get 14 seconds.
Moa DPS is laughable.

Mighty Roar for pre-stacking Might in those parties that don’t stack Might (very little or at all). Most dungeon fights are melee, no worries about being outside of range unless everyone is spread out ranging – at that point, different pet.

Red Moa, or Moas in generally have the 3rd highest dps behind Felines (1st) and Birds (2nd). The moa heal can also be used on command by swapping to the moa (pocket moa trick) during combat – it lowers its DPS but the heal + fury the Red Moa provides is gold. Because chances are if your party comp needs more fury than what Warhorn can provide, they might also need the kitten heal as well.

As for the OP and the dungeon setup, I’d also recommend in organized groups that DO stack might to drop Jungle Stalker for the Lynx since the Stalker will no longer be needed. Same way with Red Moa if party-wide fury is covered. Top that Lynx F2 (same as snow leopard’s) doesn’t bug as much so it’s an added benefit to have it F2 Leap into a water field for a heal while doing its burst DPS. As for the Brown Bear, the only place I use it is on the skips in TA since it can cleanse the poison from blossoms on your party during resting spots between skips – that’s it.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Red Moa, or Moas in generally have the 3rd highest dps behind Felines (1st) and Birds (2nd).

- Birds and cats have the same base stats
- the bird autoattack does a lot more damage while the cat causes vulnerability
- cats have an extra damage normal attack instead of the birds’ quickness
- birds’ bleeding special attack does large amounts of condi damage. The lynx has a similar attack but on a 30 seconds cooldown instead of 6(!) seconds.

Does the vulnerability the cat applies make it do more damage over the long run? If you’re fighting a human or champ?

Did I miss something?

Thing is the birds will do the aoe swiftness move that lowers its dps. That’s about the only thing holdings birds “slightly” back in DPS as far as a stand-still target is concerned. Vulnerability lets your peeps do more damage, so the cats are a better choice (in dungeons) since it comes on its auto. As for the Lynx F2 vs the Hawk/Eagle F2, I only recommend it as a bonus for having it leap into water fields to heal itself a bit, if it was fine then I wouldn’t use F2.

EDIT: I don’t use pets in dungeons for their condition damage, so I have no comment on that.

The birds actually have an 8s leap finisher, so that will heal them more than the 30s lynx heal (although it’s not on demand.) The swiftness buff is only 3/4s of a second once every 20 seconds, so it’s not that relevant.

It comes down to whether the situation you’re in calls for more vulnerability or more condi damage. If you’re fighting a boss in a dungeon with 4 berserker wars/guards in the party that aren’t putting out a lot of bleeds but already have max might/fury/vuln, bird may actually be the way to go.

I usually go with the jungle stalker for PUGs, but those never have max might, but it looks like birds are something I should consider based on the party composition. Interesting.

Wondrouswall.7169:

EDIT: I don’t use pets in dungeons for their condition damage, so I have no comment on that.

Edit on my part too. In a PUG, usually people will reach max bleeds through sheer accident. If that isn’t the case, the bird can put out 1275 of bleed damage every six seconds, which is not a bad supplement for a long term boss fight.

Yeah, the bird leap not being on demand is my only issue. As for party comps that can max vulnerability, either are a good choice. Personal preference still makes me wanna use double cats since it can usually sustain 3 stacks of vulnerability on its own. Would still keep the Jaguar in one slot though, the F2 is pretty nice. I’ll give the birds a plus tho for their auto being at 300 range, usually outside of enemy cleave, but they usually screw themselves using their leap attack and never pull back out to 300 range.

This thread has made me totally reconsider birds. I didn’t realize their autoattack damage was so much higher than cats. I think I might try several of the birds in WvW instead of drakehound. The massive damage increase might make up for the hound having the immob + KD. Blind on a low cooldown, 6 seconds of chill, even the bleed all sound pretty ok. And swiftness is never bad in a small scale fight.

I use bear to tank That female pirate boss on the aetherblade hideout fractal, it’s really good at keeping her in place and can tank/dispell the bleeding often.

Aside from that, i just use it to scare pugs who join my party.

Fluffball.8307:

This thread has made me totally reconsider birds. I didn’t realize their autoattack damage was so much higher than cats. I think I might try several of the birds in WvW instead of drakehound. The massive damage increase might make up for the hound having the immob + KD. Blind on a low cooldown, 6 seconds of chill, even the bleed all sound pretty ok. And swiftness is never bad in a small scale fight.

I find birds are especially good at small-scale PvP / duels, since their attacks are somewhat less telegraphed, thus harder to read and evade, and their swftness often helps me to keep a good position (and helps them to actually hit other players).

Your mistaken about the brown bear OP, it does have it’s uses. It is the only pet that actually uses it’s skills when it needs them, not spam them whenever they are off cooldown like other pets.

They also make a good harass tool because for some strange reason, people seem to run around like a chicken with their head cut off when the bear is chasing them. Oddly enough, the bear’s damage is pathetic, so why players run from them like they are an imminent threat is beyond me. Whatever works though.

More often than not, if I’m using the bear, it’s kept by my side on passive to clear conditions.

They aren’t running from the bear. They are trying to get a line around the bear to shoot the ranger through……

Brown bear trivializes most fights in PvE because it can tank most bosses allowing the entire group to stand right behind said boss and DPS with literally 0 risk of death…. It’s kinda stupidly OP really….

As for people saying bears don’t deal damage? Hah, bull kitten, I’ve got a few builds that have gotten the bear dealing 2-3k auto attacks and having him STILL being a tanky mofo who never dies, could a cat or bird deal more damage with the same build? Absolutely, but they’re kinda too kittening squishy and die easily if you don’t swap them, which kinda ruins the build…

In all cases the pet choice is specific to the Rangers build and play style. While you may argue that a zerker should run x pet over a bear. No pet is worth more than the rangers life. So if a Ranger runs a bear (bears tend to hold /intercept aggro) so he has to dodge less or can use protect me. Then so be it.

Ranger have an amazing ability to save a party because of down skill #3. If a player runs a bear simply so his pet will stay alive during the rally process. That alone is a valid reason to take it.

Lets be clear taking a bear doesn’t result in 1/3 less damage its maybe 1/4. Taking the highest damage pet doesn’t mean anything if you cant keep it alive. Taking a pet for a buff and putting it on passive the whole time is worst than taking a bear.

Bear bow Rangers have become the icon for bad rangers. Rangers who put Their pet on passive the whole are why the perception of the Ranger as whole is bad. Knowone pay attention to see if the pet is on passive. But when the group doesn’t have enough dps that ranger isn’t doing his part and probably wasn’t spec’ed for dps to start with or was running condition that already max out or just stack in duration like poison, burning and groups always have a lot of bleeding because of the warrior. So Yes the low dps is the rangers fault.

Spvp and WvW and PvE are different. PvE has more room for error in open world in dungeons not so much. Master each of these separately .

I use it for condition removal for builds wherin I can’t run Empathic Bond (IE Power Ranger builds) so that you don’t die in seconds to an engineer.

Black Bears are so cuddly though

i prefer the black widow (and/or jungle spider) for immobilize + poisons, and
usually red salamander for the burn and AoEs (plus self heal), if i need something a little tankier, the murellow gives a nice poison field, too. but if i know melee pets will die too quickly in a particular fight, i take both spiders i mentioned above

The Brownbear is usefull for skipping in Arah to remove conditions if u fail and get hit. Or to let him tank “Deadeyes” or these guys with the wardenrings if u don´t have stability rdy or if u´re lazy.
But that´s the only situations i use it for.

For all the rangers that say rangers dont have enough condition removal then go on to diss brown bears, I shake my head. Using a brown bear doesnt even take any time from you and bears in general can bathe in conditions and still smell charmin fresh.

Ive got empathic bond traited so I dont use bear much but I see room for it in some builds. Just rantin’ ’gainst all the bear hate. I like murrellows for the poison field but it seems to me that 14 sec aoe weakness on black bears is probably far underated also.

For a “tank” pet I will always use a Drake over a bear, combo finisher blast is just too nice, and w/healing spring cond removal of brown bear (for me) has never been needed in a pve situation.

One healing spring Drake combo finisher blast, swap pet 2nd Drake for a follow up blast all within one healing spring cd.

F2 & CFB is extra dmg, and the drake has better stats than a bear, greater in power, equal in toughness, just less in vitality.

Just run cat/drake

Just wanted to mention that birds hit twice and therefore grant double might with the elite.

To prevent the stalker to fail its F2 make sure that:

• it stands completly still
• it has a command to attack something
• don’t spam it
• don’t use it while running around and your pet is following you
  reason: waypoint overload

The best pets for the ranger are defenitly:

• Raven: high dps, blind, elite synchro
• JStalker: high dps, might
• Moa: fury, just to buff at easy content
• BBear: cleanse, situational, like 0 dps howeva (DO NOT STAY ON THIS ONE -.-)
• Cave Spider: ranged highest dps, weakness, vulnerability
• Drake: either swamp or river one, both have a great aoe burst

Xyonon.3987:

Just wanted to mention that birds hit twice and therefore grant double might with the elite.

elite synchro

This is incorrect. The attack rate of birds, specifically that one of their moves applies swiftness (no hit) and one attack every 8 seconds hits only once doesn’t make them the best candidate with Rampage As One: Cats are still the most optimal choice during Rampage since they can sustain the might better, even with 2 of their attacks striking once and one attack that attacks twice. Test it yourself.

Having a flat boon duration of 0%, during Rampage As One, Birds were only able to sustain 7 stacks of might, with Quickening Zephyr their peak was 10 stacks. Rampage As One was also activated after the birds used their swiftness move for more optimal results. Cats on the other hand were able to sustain 8 stacks of might, with Quickening Zephyr used their peak was at 11 stacks.

For dungeons, cats are still more effective than birds, DPS and Rampage As One-wise. I’d also add Jaguar and Lynx to your list for best pets. Lynx > Jungle Stalker when Might is covered, Jaguar is preferable with Rampage As One + Quickening Zephyr DPS synergy since it’s Stalk (F2) gives it +25% critical chance (not listed on tool-tip).

Edit: The main quote isn’t what I’m trying to debate, not the best selection since birds do hit twice on the auto/F2. Post was for the Birds with Rampage elite.

Xyonon.3987:

The best pets for the ranger are defenitly:

• Raven: high dps, blind, elite synchro
• JStalker: high dps, might
• Moa: fury, just to buff at easy content
• BBear: cleanse, situational, like 0 dps howeva (DO NOT STAY ON THIS ONE -.-)
• Cave Spider: ranged highest dps, weakness, vulnerability
• Drake: either swamp or river one, both have a great aoe burst

You forgot Jaguar and Ice Drake in that list of best pets.

And if you’re going to list all the utility pets, don’t forget fern hound and its AoE heal.

I’m quite new to the ranger I have to say. I’m more talking about my expirience in general in GW2 combined with a 40 ranger ^^. Also PvE only what I say! However I have no bear, nor using the SB / LB much, wich seems to be a good sign.

Ty for the hints Wondrouswall, helps me a lot. How about the devourers? One does have a nice barrage wich should grant you much might? Also all attacks are 2 hits aren’t they?

Also:

• What does the Jaguar grant more than the Jungle Stalker?
• Why Ice Drake? Chill isn’t that great in PvE.
• What does a Lynx grant? It seems to be like any cat, just with lower stats – why??
• Fern hound heal is really low imo. Is it worth using? :/

Xyonon.3987:

Ty for the hints Wondrouswall, helps me a lot. How about the devourers? One does have a nice barrage wich should grant you much might? Also all attacks are 2 hits aren’t they?

Also:

• What does the Jaguar grant more than the Jungle Stalker?
• Why Ice Drake? Chill isn’t that great in PvE.
• What does a Lynx grant? It seems to be like any cat, just with lower stats – why??
• Fern hound heal is really low imo. Is it worth using? :/

• How about the devourers? One does have a nice barrage wich should grant you much might? Also all attacks are 2 hits aren’t they?

Yes, in those situations where a ranged pet is favorable, a Devourer will have much better synergy with Rampage As One. If the Devourer is only using auto attack they can sustain a constant peak between 10-12 stacks of might, with Quickening Zephyr 16-18 stacks (similar result even with Lashtail using it’s (F2) Rending Barbs).

• What does the Jaguar grant more than the Jungle Stalker?

If running two cats, Jaguar is always a must for your 2nd slot. Again, since their (F2) gives them +25% critical chance as well as stealth to avoid aggro. Pair it’s F2 and RaO with QZ and for 6 seconds it will do more damage than other cats, especially with Pet’s Prowess trait. If going for straight single-target damage, swap to Jaguar before casting RaO to get the most out of it.

• What does a Lynx grant? It seems to be like any cat, just with lower stats – why??

Lynx has the same stats as the other cats, none of which are lower. As I said above, when Might stacks are covered by the party, I prefer using the Lynx for a controlled Leap Finisher via it’s (F2) ability to heal itself when a water field is present. Players leap into water fields to heal, I might as well bring a DPS cat that can do the same. Also the (F2) on the Lynx hits twice and hits harder than its Bite move while retaining its DPS without any loss whatsoever. Again, when Might stacks are covered by the party, use a Lynx > Jungle Stalker since its (F2) Mighty Roar won’t be seeing any use.

• Why Ice Drake? Chill isn’t that great in PvE.

Its cone chill isn’t great. If running a Drake or double Drakes, the preference is always River Drake (1st) and if slotting a 2nd Drake, Marsh Drake. The bounce off their (F2) abilities increases their DPS against multiple targets and blast-finisher on swap that also weakens foes is a plus. If using Drakes underwater I’d only take the Reef for its Feedback bubble. Frost Drake for looks though.

No comment on the Fern Hound.

One last question: Would this work:
RaO, River Drake F2, swap, Marh Drake F2, bounce hits 15 timer = full might?

Once you swap a pet during RaO, the new one brought out loses out on the RaO bonus. It’s preferable to keep River Drake out in that example or if you want to squeeze skill management: Marsh Drake F2 > Cast RaO > Swap to River Drake before RaO is applied so that it will apply to your River Drake > River Drake F2. Make sure you cast RaO and swap after 2 or 3 projectiles from Marsh Drake’s F2 connects. But that seems overly complicated for some extra Might lol

Overly complicated for some extra might? I play engi, I do not know the words “overly complicated” at all

Xyonon.3987:

Overly complicated for some extra might? I play engi, I do not know the words “overly complicated” at all

The amount of (bad) AI wrangling it takes to make our defunct class work makes kit management look easy.

Haha! I play an Engineer as well. I guess “complicated” was the wrong wording for it. More power to you if you can pull off that rotation, personally, I think my engineer’s rotation on stacking might is easier!

Still a huge codecnacker compared to the guard >_> well, at least it lasts much longer

btt: So mainly in dungeons it should be the jungle stalker and a river drake i guess? how about spiders and devourers for range? spiders seem to have a really nice dps.

Xyonon.3987:

btt: So mainly in dungeons it should be the jungle stalker and a river drake i guess? how about spiders and devourers for range? spiders seem to have a really nice dps.

I would leave that solely to preference. For myself, I swap out pets for each encounter and tend to run two-of-a-kind load out (double cats or drakes, etc). For ranged fights I leave it down to preference as well. Either are fine, with Spiders being my preference for their DPS and extra (F2) effects. Devourers for when I’m not in the mood to manage my pet on bosses that chase and melee since they are pretty much a set-it-and-forget-it pet.

I heared 2 pets of the same type share CD for their own skills. Is this true?

Xyonon.3987:

I heared 2 pets of the same type share CD for their own skills. Is this true?

No, it’s not true. 2 pets of the same type do not share cooldowns with their skills.

Xyonon.3987:

• Why Ice Drake? Chill isn’t that great in PvE.

Chilled is good in PvE, especially on fractals trash.

Xyonon.3987:

• Fern hound heal is really low imo. Is it worth using? :/

When you’re pugging with bads? Sure. Otherwise no and just blast your water field to heal them.

Xyonon.3987:

I’m quite new to the ranger I have to say. I’m more talking about my expirience in general in GW2 combined with a 40 ranger ^^. Also PvE only what I say! However I have no bear, nor using the SB / LB much, wich seems to be a good sign.

Ty for the hints Wondrouswall, helps me a lot. How about the devourers? One does have a nice barrage wich should grant you much might? Also all attacks are 2 hits aren’t they?

Also:

• What does the Jaguar grant more than the Jungle Stalker?
• Why Ice Drake? Chill isn’t that great in PvE.
• What does a Lynx grant? It seems to be like any cat, just with lower stats – why??
• Fern hound heal is really low imo. Is it worth using? :/

Ice Drake-condition aside take a glance at the dmg of f2 compared to the other drakes.

And I just put my pet names to Juvenile Brown Bear!!!!!

But my brown bear has been with me as long as I can remember, I can’t just abandon him. Also, he has active condition cleanse, and I hate conditions, so I’m not going WS tree.

I don’t know about the OP here, but the title is correct, don’t use Bear for everything. I like to use Signet of Renewal to counter conditions and when I am faced with too many to handle then I activate it and throw them all into my pet. I much rather use a pet that provides sustainable DPS and more viable F2 abilities than having a pet that only provides me with condition removal. This is because, despite the condition removal from the Bear, that is all that it can do. Furthermore, a pet like the Wolf is much more suited to tank an enemy due to it’s fear ability + the ranger combinations that I can offer to support it. Besides, unless you are fighting 5 necromancers in a tight spot, your allies should have the sense to know how to remove their own conditions; but if they cannot then please throw that healing spring on them and heal them at the same time by advising them to use a leap finisher inside it. Now I do not slap the hand of the ranger who likes to use Bear, but I will say this: do not use Bear for everything, it is a pet used for support purposes alone and that is as far as it goes.

Wetpaw.3487:

Ice Drake-condition aside take a glance at the dmg of f2 compared to the other drakes.

It’s (F2) damage is the same as the Marsh, Salamander, and Reef (F2) abilities. However tool-tips couldn’t be more spotty in this game. All four of those Drakes’ (F2) abilities are meant to be read as total damage from all 5 attacks landing. Only the River Drake’s (F2) displays damage per attack. Also, the Salamander, Reef, and Ice Drake’s (F2) are frontal cones, not ideal in dungeons to cover multiple targets spread about, even in stacks where targets can completely avoid their breath attack by being inside, beside, or slightly behind the Drake. Marsh’s (F2) being the one exception that does similar damage as the others but can bounce for better coverage on top of poison damage as a bonus. Ice Drake is the worst Drake to bring in dungeons.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Wetpaw.3487:

Ice Drake-condition aside take a glance at the dmg of f2 compared to the other drakes.

It’s (F2) damage is the same as the Marsh, Salamander, and Reef (F2) abilities. However tool-tips couldn’t be more spotty in this game. All four of those Drakes’ (F2) abilities are meant to be read as total damage from all 5 attacks landing. Only the River Drake’s (F2) displays damage per attack. Also, the Salamander, Reef, and Ice Drake’s (F2) are frontal cones, not ideal in dungeons to cover multiple targets spread about, even in stacks where targets can completely avoid their breath attack by being inside, beside, or slightly behind the Drake. Marsh’s (F2) being the one exception that does similar damage as the others but can bounce for better coverage on top of poison damage as a bonus. Ice Drake is the worst Drake to bring in dungeons.

Thanks for all the info! Glad we agree it’s not just chill condition alone.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Wetpaw.3487:

Ice Drake-condition aside take a glance at the dmg of f2 compared to the other drakes.

It’s (F2) damage is the same as the Marsh, Salamander, and Reef (F2) abilities. However tool-tips couldn’t be more spotty in this game. All four of those Drakes’ (F2) abilities are meant to be read as total damage from all 5 attacks landing. Only the River Drake’s (F2) displays damage per attack. Also, the Salamander, Reef, and Ice Drake’s (F2) are frontal cones, not ideal in dungeons to cover multiple targets spread about, even in stacks where targets can completely avoid their breath attack by being inside, beside, or slightly behind the Drake. Marsh’s (F2) being the one exception that does similar damage as the others but can bounce for better coverage on top of poison damage as a bonus. Ice Drake is the worst Drake to bring in dungeons.

For dungeons? Perhaps. For fractals, no. Fire breath is arguably more useless. You guys are undervaluing chilled way too much, it’s not a useless condition.

The conal breath is not an issue with proper stacking or curtain/GS pulling.

TurtleDragon.3108:

You guys are undervaluing chilled way too much, it’s not a useless condition.

It’s not that chill is undervalued, it’s more like chill sees very little use in a majority of dungeon/pve content since Anet doesn’t have enough encounters where the slow would be more useful.

Wondrouswall.7169:

TurtleDragon.3108:

You guys are undervaluing chilled way too much, it’s not a useless condition.

It’s not that chill is undervalued, it’s more like chill sees very little use in a majority of dungeon/pve content since Anet doesn’t have enough encounters where the slow would be more useful.

It’s not the slow thats useful, but the 66% cooldown increase. Although, the slow is also helpful on ranged/kite fights.